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Tasteless cereal unsuitable for human consumption in its natural state

Always on the lookout for new and healthy breakfast cereal, I spotted this offering from Mornflake while I was browsing the shelves of the Wholefoods Market in Kensington.

I've tried other products in the Mornflake range such as their crunchy mueslis and have always found them to be extremely tasty and good value. So this Toasted Crunchy Oatbran cereal caught my eye on this particular day. I guess it was the keywords printed on the box including 'high fibre' 'heart's content' and 'toasted' that made me pull the box off the shelves. After examining the ingredients and nutritional information, I decided to take a chance into this unchartered cereal territory.

It's packed in quite a small 250g box with a picture of healthy looking cereals and fruits in the middle of a heart. It all looked very promising. Inside the box the cereal is packed in a waxy inner packet, pretty much the same as most other cereal packets.

On the side of the box is a serving suggestion which indicates it will make a nourishing breakfast or a 'special' treat at any time of the day. It also says it can be eaten on its own as an 'enjoyable snack or with milk as a great start to the day.'

Now, after reading all this promising information, I couldn't wait to try it out. After prising apart the sealed inner packet top, I caught my first glimpse of this cereal. Right, how can I describe it? To be honest, the look of it strongly resembles those pellets you put on your grass to kill weeds. They're a very pale cream colour and a similar shape to All Bran only a bit thicker and shorter. If you're unfamiliar with All Bran, they're a bit like short worms. As for the smell, I can't say I was particularly excited about this. Sawdust springs to mind.

I tried nibbling a handful straight out of the box before sprinkling some onto my yogurt. They are quite horrible. As far as I'm concerned, they taste of nothing at all. They are crunchy, but dry and completely tasteless. I've never found such a tasteless cereal. Even dry porridge oats taste better than this.

I was hoping for something better, particularly after reading all the hype printed on the box. I know they have to market this product somehow, but I feel the descriptions it provides by calling it a 'special treat' and an 'enjoyable snack' are way off the mark and very misleading. I also tried them as a regular breakfast with milk and sweetener but I had to give up on this cereal and really couldn't eat any more. I couldn't even give it away.

~~~Verdict~~~

There's only so far I will go towards healthy eating and this isn't one of them. There are far more tasty cereals on the market that are also healthy and actually taste nice to eat. I'm sticking with All Bran.

The only way I would recommend making the most of this cereal is to include it as an ingredient when making something else. For instance, they could be added to muffin or cake mix to provide added fibre and the benefits of oatbran.

Ingredients:

Oatbran and anti-oxidants (Tocopherols).

Nutritional Information:

* High in fibre (15.2g per 100g) * No added salt * No Added sugar * Suitable for vegetarians* Contains oatbran and anti-oxidants.* May contain traces of nuts and seeds.

Price and availability:

Mornflake are quite prominent in health food stores and some larger supermarkets also stock their products. It can also be purchased online from various retailers if you really want to. This retails for around £1.10.